At least 3 dogs starved to death at Memphis shelter

Puppy No. 199287 was admitted to the city animal shelter on Aug. 18. A later photo shows the same dog in an emaciated condition. A necropsy after it died Sept. 4 indicated that it hadn't eaten in at least 72 hours.

Special to The Commercial Appeal

Puppy No. 199287 arrived at the City of Memphis Animal Shelter on Aug. 18, described in paperwork as a friendly pit bull-Lab mix.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said Tuesday that shelter employees are back on the job as he awaits an internal investigation about shelter operations.

"I can't say at this point whether they did everything right or did everything wrong until I get the results, which I will have at the end of the week," said Wharton, who added that shelter volunteers are providing an "additional layer of oversight" over the employees.

The warrant shows that deputies asked for a slew of shelter records, including computers and logs of care.

Deputies seized 17 boxes of documents, four computers, six CDs or DVDs, empty dog-food bags and two cell phones, among other things.

Detectives believed there was probable cause that laws were being violated by Alexander and shelter employees, the warrant says.

Among the potential charges are aggravated cruelty to animals, official misconduct and tampering with or fabricating evidence, which could result from dogs being held for court that were allowed to die, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies also included in the warrant photos of puppy No. 199287.

The earliest photo shows the dog looking healthy just after arriving at the shelter. Later photos show it in an increasingly emaciated condition.

The animal was found dead in its cage Sept. 4, according to the warrant.

The photos were taken by the tipster, who repeatedly brought the dog's deteriorating condition to the attention of shelter employees, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Shular.

Also included in the warrant were the results of a necropsy on the puppy done by veterinarian Melinda Merck of Gainesville, Fla.

The dog, wrote Merck, had little stored-up fat, including a 2.3 percent measurement of bone-marrow fat. Sixty percent or higher would be normal, she wrote.

Although the dog had partly digested food in its stomach, the doctor estimated the puppy hadn't eaten in at least 72 hours. The cause of death, she wrote, was starvation.

The warrant also indicates that volunteers had sent "numerous" e-mails to Alexander, now-departed Division of Public Services and Neighborhoods director Kenneth Moody and two employees, warning that animals were in poor condition.

Moody retired from the city in July.

Deputies discovered in the raid that some of the animals were sick or had been deprived of food and water.

Death rates of animals being kept at the shelter have risen sharply, from 75 in 2006 to 119 in 2007 to 193 in 2008.

Wharton said publicly accessible 24-hour surveillance cameras will be installed at the facility by week's end.